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Like a festering wound in the body politic of the Northeast in general and Manipur in particular, the NSCN-IM peace talks drags on with new territorial constructs hovering on the horizon. The Indian government simply relishes it, forever pitting one community against the other or between communities. One remembers the time when a few youths from Manipur going to Nagaland and joining up the Naga National Council (NNC) in 1956 and when the veteran leader Rishang Keishing spearheaded the Naga Integration movement in the early 60s which ultimately merged with the Indian National Congress party. The same Rishang Keishing was instrumental in organizing the Village Volunteer Force (VVF) movement during the heydays of the ‘Naga hostiles’ in the hills of Manipur. Yet, Thuingaleng Muivah picked up the cue and a Pan Nagaland (later on Nagalim) movement was started envisioning parts of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the new construct called Nagalim. Even in those days, the dream of Greater Nagaland was discounted by many in both Nagaland and Manipur with the idea of ‘South Nagaland’ surfacing in the debates. A separate arrangement for the Nagas beyond the state of Nagaland was long foreseen by the Naga elders then. There lies the crux of the recent NNC statement that the integration of the Nagas had been completed in 1956. The then power equation in the state of Nagaland was averse to new Nagas joining in. Still, the aversion is very much existent in Naga society. No one in the state of Nagaland wants the power equilibrium that has come to stay since the early 60s. It is this reality that has recently dawned upon those who had been pushing for a Greater Nagalim. One cannot but appreciate the power of Thuingaleng Muivah’s dream which had successfully influenced hordes of Naga youth across the board. However, the flaw in Muivah’s dream was the basic foundation itself which was primarily directed against the majority Meitei community. The Nagas in the state of Nagaland did not have that kind of animosity against the Meiteis, as projected by Muivah and his supporters. One remembers a historic occasion years back when the titular king of Manipur Okendra Singh was warmly welcomed in the Naga Hills. By remembering this occasion, we are not trying to celebrate the exploits and oppression of his predecessors. To the despotic kings of Manipur, the Meitei or the Naga or for that matter the Kuki commoners were no different. The common people cutting across community lines were always at the receiving end of oppressive rule of the kings and his nobles. The major brunt of religious diktats and excommunications of the highly orthodox Hindu kings of Manipur were borne by the commoners of majority community itself and not the people in the hills where the writ of British colonial rulers was law. During the colonial period, the kings were in fact encouraged to exert Hindu orthodoxy to its limits in the valley while a religious freedom existed in the hills. The hill valley divide in Manipur was indeed a creation of the British colonial rulers and continued by the Indian administrative system till today, for which we must start by putting our heads together in negotiating ways and means for a complete overhaul of the system. The true spirit of democracy and development has been eluding us all and it must be our main concern for the future. And we must always keep in mind that the solution does not lie in fragmentation but in seeking a common future.
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